It seems the rumor of a Thailand rumor isn't enough. Now Vulture is reporting that Paramount and Bay are planning to film Transformers 4 in China. The tone of the article suggests it is almost a done deal with the Thailand production simply being used as either as a negotiating tactic or additional shooting location.

There are several reasons being cite for the potential location choice. One is the growing box office numbers of China whose number of screens grows every year (35% revenue increase last year). Another reason is to curry favor with the Chinese government to get better treatment for Paramount films. Apparently the China government has been playing games with the release schedule either delaying movies significantly (Skyfall to next year) or suppressing box office totals by forcing moves to compete against each other (Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises released in same August weekend). Also China has instituted a quota for foreign films so I guess they figure an on location shoot will avoid them being impacted by it.
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